Balancer



Sept'. 12, 1933. R A NORLlNG 1,926,452

BALANCER Filed March 16. 1931 INVENTOR.

fam/@5147. MW/m; BY f Patented YSeplLVlZ,1931?` l f A Y. t

UNHWSWES PATENT OFF-ice@ BALANCER Reinhold A. Norling, Aurora, Ill.,assignor tocIndependent Pneumatic ToolCo., Chicago. Ill.,` a corporationof Delaware g f 1 ApplicationMarch 16, 1931.` Serial No. 523,165 "5claims. (c1. 242-107) This invention relates to counter-balances, par-In the drawing, 1 indicates the reel or drum of ticularly adapted forsuspending portable power the balancer, 2 the shaft on which the reel isrevodriven tools, such as electric drillsand the like lubly mounted, and3 the support for the shaft. from an overhead support above the placesof The support 3 is in the form of an'open frame 5j work, so that thetools may be elevated out of comprising a pair of laterally narrowmembers 4, 60

the way when not in use, but'may be readily 5 on Iopposite sides ofthereel and connected at drawn down to the work whenV desired. theirends, above and below the reel, as shown.

In my co-pending application, Serial No. The frame may be in the form ofa one-piece 523,164, led March 16, 1931, ,I- have described casting andbeing open on opposite sides permits ll and claimed a counter-balance inwhich the cathe reel to be inserted into the frame through 65 blecarrying portion of the spring controlled reel either side in assemblingthe device. or drum is tapered or inclined tothe axis of the The shaft 2extends across the frame between reel so as to have substantially thesame tension the side members 4, V thereof, kand has one jend on thespring in all positions ofthe load on the secured bya driving ft in theSide member 4 S0 i cable at different distances from the ree1. The as tohold the shaft against rotation. The other 70 taper or incline of thereel is relatively slight, end of the shaft is reducedand eXtendSthrough' and thus the range or extent of up and down a sheave 6journaledin the other side member movement of the load is limited to thediiierencel V5 0i the vframe in'an enlagedbOSS 7 Cast therebetween thelarge and small diameters ofV the 011 and plOJ'eCtHg letelelYOU-DWerdfrom the 201 reel as provided by the taper thereof. frame, eS ShOWIl-` A75.

.1n accordance with my present invention, I The reell is made hollow andis located inthe provide the reel or drum with an extreme taper 'orframe with its Open Side adjacent the Side member incline in order torapidly increase the diameter 5 t0 VI'eCeVe e flat COl Spring 8, theOuter end of the reel from its smaller to its larger end 0f Which iSASecured by ev belt 0I Other fastening' and thus provide a greater range.or extent of` membe 9 t0 the VHillel' Slltfeee 0f ,en annular movementfor. the load -or toolsuspendecl fromV vialflge 10 lOCated Within thereel and Dl'efeably the cable with a balanced condition for the toolformed integral therewith. The spring is located atzany position of itsup 'or down movement. Within the flange and the latter'is made substan-A further object 'ormy invention isto provide tiaily'par'alle'l t0 theaXiS 0f the reel, as provided y the taper portion of the reel with astraight by tbeehaft 2,' telllOVde a flat Support OI thev ange toprovide asupportrior the spring. Sprig Vrleele, IleCeSSeITY by IeaSOIlOf the eXtreme A further object of my inventionis to provide taper orincline'gve t0 thecable Carrying p0ran open' or skeleton-like supportingframe for tOll` l1 Qfthe reel, 1

l the reel, whereby a large size reel as Vprovirdedloy ,'The sleeve `6extends into the reel at the center the extreme taper may readily -beaccommodated of the spring and is counter bored, as at 12, to

without undue increase of the expense of the bal-` receive the hubportion 13 of the reel Vwhich hub ancer. L i i portion provides abearing for the reel along sub- Another object of my invention is toprovide a stantially the entire pOltOn Of the shaft 2 benovel form ofcable guard and mounting theretween the side membersof the frame; Thisis,

4-0 for as required for a large size reel. y essential .because of then'arrowness of the reel v Other and further objects of` my invention`will loi/ reason of the extreme taper given thereto.V appear from thefoil-owing specication taken in The Spring 8 SllllOuIldS the Sleeve 6and has its connection withV the. accompanying drawing, inlV lneleridConnected t0 the Sleeve by e key 14-V Which- ,By this arrangement, thetension of the spring 100 Fig. 1 is a side View, with parts broken'awaymay be adjusted by turning'the sleeve 6.

and Yin section, of a counter-balancer constructed The sleeve is turnedby a 'Worm 15 rotatably in accordance withrmy invention; i y Y mountedinthe boss '7 above the sleeve and hay- Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionalview takenron line ing a toothed connection therewith by meansof 24-2ofA Fig. 1f, with parts in elevation; Worm teeth 16 on the sleeve andscrew threads 105 Fig. 3 is a top plan'view of a part of the device on;the worm. The worm 15 is accessible from to show the cable guard; theexterior of the frame and has a tool engag-y .Fig 4 is a side Viewillustrating a detail of ing socket 17 whereby the worm may be turned tostructure employed with the guard; and adjust the tensionof the spring.The teeth on` Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View taken on line thesleeve and worm are so arranged that the 110 5--5 of Fig. 2, Y u i f Ytendency of the spring to unwind turns theworm toward and against ashoulder 18 at the inner end of the recess in which the worm is located.This provides a stop to hold the worm from accidental turning to releasethe tension of the spring. The adjusting mechanism shown and describedis the same as in my co-pending application and is claimed therein.

The cable 19 jhas one end connected to the reel and the other endconnected to the frame 3 to provide a yloop in the cable below andoutside of the reel. A pulley or sheave 2f) is engaged in this loop sothat a tool or other load may be suspended from the cable in the use oi"the balancer. The sheave is journaled in a suitable block or frame 21from whichdepends a `hook 22 by means of which a tool or load may besuspended from the cable. By reason of the taper given to the cablecarrying portion 11 of the reel, the latter is larger in diameter at oneend than at the other. The cable 19 is attached to the largest end ofthe reel in the manner shown in Fig. 5. To lead the cable on 'the reeland cause the cable tofollow the taper or incline thereof, the reel hasa spiral groove 23 in the outer surface of the reel portion 11 andextending from one end of the reelto the other. The cable 19 is attachedto the reel in the bottom of this groove, and to accomplish this, thereel is provided with two holes 24, 24, extending therethrough at thebottom of the groove and through which holes the fcable Yis passed to.provide a loop 25 in the cable beneath the reel at one of the holes, asshown in Fig. 5. The free end of the nection.

To attach the cable to the irame 3, the latter has an outwardlyextending lug 26 adjacent its lower end, as shown in Fig. 1. Said lughas three holes through which the cable is inserted t-o provide a loopfor. the free end of the cable as shown in Fig. 1. This method ofattachment is disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application.

The taper or incline given to the reel l is considerably greater thanthat given to the reel in my co-pending application. In the presentdevice, the taper is approximately at ari angle of 36 degrees to theaxis of the reel. With this extreme taper, the diameter of the reelincreases rapidly from one end of the taper to theV other, and thus thetool or load suspended froml'the cable may be moved a greater distanceup and down 'that with the lslightly tapered reel in my c'oLpendingapplication. This follows by reason of the fact that one end of the reelis considerably larger than the other, kand thetravel ofthe cable iscorrespondingly greater. In addition, the tapered feature of the reelvaries the leverage exerted on the spring as the reel is turned andnotwithstanding the extreme taper, the load on the cable will beVbalanced at any distance it may be stopped from the reel, whethercompletely raised or completely lowered. Theadvantage of the extremetaper is that the tool or load suspended n by the balancer may be raisedto an extreme high frame of the'balancer in case the sheave is raisedtoo far,v I provide an abutment or stop on the lower side of the frame.In the drawing, this stop is in the form of a lug 2'7 cast on the frameat the side member 4 and has a concave under surface or recess 28 toreceive the upper side of the sheave, as shown' in Fig. 2. Tostrengthenthe lug, it is provided with webs 29.

To prevent the cable 19 from leaving the groove 23 and 'thus cause thecable to follow the incline of the reel to secure 'the advantagesthereof, I provide a guard, in the form of a roller 30 journaled in acarrying frame 3l which by side members 32, 32, straddles the reel andis journaled on the ends of the shaft 2 which is made long enough toproject beyond the outer sides of the main frame 1, as shown in Figs. 2and 3. By this arrangement, the roller with its frame may be swung intoand out of the positions shown in full and dotted lines, respectively,in Fig. 4. When in raised position, as shown by the full lines, theroller extends across the reel on its outer side and being close to thereel prevents the cable from Aclisplacement out of the groove 23 in theturning of the reel. The roller is set to follow the incline of the reelby being mounted in a correspondinglydisposed portion 33 of the rollercarrying frame, which portion is so 'disposed by having the one sidemember 32 shorter than the other to accord with the large and small endsof the reel. f

The sidev member 4 of the main frame is provided with a lug 34 whichforms an abutment to limit the upward swinging movement of the rollercarrying frame when raised. This stops the roller -at its operativeposition. Any suitable means may be provided to hold the roller in itsraised position. I have shown a pin 35 inserted through holes in theshort side member 32 and the shaft 2 for this purpose. The short member32 may have lugsv 36, 36, one to contact with the stop 34 whenrraised,and the other to contact with the side member 4 of the main frame tosupport the roller frame in proper position when assemblying thebalancer. Y

A suspension hook 37 is connected with the upper end of 'the main frame3 whereby the balancer. may be connected or attached to an overheadsupport. The hook is fixed to a vertical axis member 38 whichhas asvviveled connection with themainframe. The latter has its upper endshapedv to accommodate the head of the axis member, and being open onopposite sides by reason of the open natureA of the main frame, permits.the' axismember to be inserted into the frame from either side when`assemblying `the device.

The balancer is simple in construction and operation and is particularlydesigned for use with portable power driven tools, such as electricdrills and the llike for suspending them from an overheadsupport, eitherstationary or movable as the conditions may require With thetoolsuspended by the balancer, the tool may be readily drawn down to thework and when releasedwill be automatically raised `by the spring 8turning the reel 1 to wind the cable v19 thereonV This will :carry lthetool up to a position out of the way andyet be within reach of theoperator for drawing the tool down to the work whenever desired. Withthe extreme taper ofthe reel, the tool may have a relatively long rangeof up and down movement and may thus be raised to `an extreme high orlowered to an extreme -down position, with the tool balanced in any ofits elevated positions by the spring tension being sufficient-tomaintain the tool in 'its' various positions of adjustment.

The details of construction and .arrangement of parts shown anddescribed may be variously changed and modified `Without departing fromthe spirit or scope of my invention, except as pointed out in theappended claims. i

I claim as my invention: i

1. A counter-balance of the character vdescribed, comprising an openframe having oppositely disposed relatively narrow side members, a shaftextending between and carried by said members, a reel on the shaftbetween said members and having a tapered or inclined portion adapted'oo have a cable wound thereon, a coil spring for turning the reel in adirection to wind the cable thereon, and means for adjusting the tensionof the spring, the side member of the frame on the side of the reelhaving the tapered portion being inclined to follow and lit closelyadjacent thereto.

2. A counter-balance of the character described, comprising a reeladapted to have a cable wound thereon, a support for the reel, said reelhaving a cable carrying portion atan extreme taper to the axis of thereel, a flange within the reel in concentric relation to the axisthereof and carried by the tapered portion thereof, a coil spring withinsaid ange and connected at one end to the flange and at the other end tothe support, and means for adjusting the tension of the spring.

3. A counter-balance of the character described, comprising a frame, ashaft therein, a reel in the frame and having a hub portion rotatablymounted on said shaft, a sleeve journaled in the frame and extendinginto the reel, said sleeve being counter-bored to receive the hub, acoil spring surrounding the sleeve and having one end connected to thereel and the other end connected to the sleeve, and means for turningthe sleeve to adjust the tension of the spring.

4. A counter-balance of the character described, comprising an openframe having oppositely disposed side members, a shaft extending betweenand carried by said members, a reel rotatablyv mounted on said shaft andhaving reel to provide an abutment or stopfor the load carried by thecable.

5. A counter-balance of the character described, comprising a framehaving oppositely disposed side members, Aa shaft extending between andcarried by said members, a reel rotatably mounted on the shaft andadapted to have a cable mounted thereon, acoil spring for turning thereel in a direction to wind the cable thereon, a guard in the form of aroller extending `across the reel to prevent the cable from displacementthereon, and a roller Ycarrying frame straddling the reel and journaledon the ends of the shaftl extending beyond'the main frame.

REINHOLD A. NORLING.

a tapered or` inclined cable. carrying portion, a coil springfor turningthe reel in a direction tov

